WORLD> Europe
|
WORLD> Europe
|
|
Russia to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-06 07:02
Russia will deploy Iskander missiles in its western outpost of Kaliningrad in response to plans by the United States to build an anti-missile system in Europe, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday. Medvedev said Russia would electronically jam elements of the proposed US system and that Russia had scrapped plans to stand down three missile regiments. "Earlier we had planned to decommission three missile regiments of a missile division deployed in Kozelsk and to disband this division by 2010. I have decided to refrain from these plans and we will not reform anything," Medvedev said. "Besides, to neutralize, if necessary, the anti-missile system, an Iskander missile system will be deployed in the Kaliningrad region. Naturally, we also consider using for the same purpose the resources of Russia's navy," he said. "In the end, electronic jamming of new elements of the US missile shield will be carried out from the territory of the same westernmost region, that is from Kaliningrad," he said. Parts of the US system are due to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic. The Kremlin says the system threatens Russia's security. Washington says it is needed to protect from what it calls rogue nations, specifically Iran. Medvedev criticized the United States in his first annual address to the nation yesterday, blaming "selfish" US foreign policy for Moscow's war with Georgia. Criticism over Georgia Russia's war with Georgia in August over the rebel region of South Ossetia was "among other things, the result of the arrogant course of the US administration which hates criticism and prefers unilateral decisions," he said in his speech, broadcast live on television and radio. "The conflict in the Caucasus was used as a pretext for sending NATO warships to the Black Sea and then for the forceful foisting on Europe of America's anti-missile systems, which in its turn will entail retaliatory measures by Russia." Speaking in the Kremlin's St George's Hall to about 1,000 parliamentarians, top government officials, religious leaders and journalists, Medvedev linked the war in Georgia to the global financial crisis. Both began as localized events but took on broader significance. "We will overcome the consequences of the world economic crisis and will come out of it even stronger than we were," Medvedev said to applause. But the financial and Caucasus crises also showed the need for fundamental reform of global institutions, he added. "The lessons of the mistakes and crises of 2008 have proved to all responsible nations that the time has come to act, and it is necessary to radically reform the (international) political and economic system," he said. "Our people are spiritually and morally rich, we have things we can be proud of, we have things to love and protect and we have things we can aspire to. For these reasons, we will not step back in the Caucasus," he said. Proposal to extend term Medvedev proposed extending the presidential term to six years from four years yesterday, a step he said was needed to deal with massive challenges facing the country. Medvedev also proposed increasing the powers of parliament over the executive and helping smaller parties win better representation in parliament. He said the government would have explain its policies every year to parliament. "(I propose) an increase of the constitutional terms of the president and State Duma (lower house of parliament) to 6 years and 5 years respectively," Medvedev, who took over as president in May from Vladimir Putin, said in his first state of the nation speech in the Kremlin. He did not say when the changes would be implemented. But analysts said the decision would give future presidents the chance for two six-year terms. |
